


Lessons from Miss Fisher

by ijemanja



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-07 13:37:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ijemanja/pseuds/ijemanja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niece, friend, employer, role model. Phryne Fisher is many things to many people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons from Miss Fisher

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alyse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alyse/gifts).



> Content Warning: brief mention of period-appropriate corporal punishment of a school student

Prudence is not a stubborn woman.

Oh, to be sure, there are those who would describe her so, but Prudence would most certainly disagree with them.

Resilient. Stalwart. A rock of the community.

She likes those terms better. Besides, if they think _her_ stubborn, well. Clearly they have never tried to make her niece dress or speak or behave appropriately for a woman of her station.

And if Prudence were truly a stubborn person, she would never admit how proud she is of Phryne. Well, she admits it to herself, at any rate. It's not as if Phryne needs the encouragement.

But she is proud of her; fiercely. Now, _there_ is a stubborn woman.

*

Elizabeth is an intelligent woman. 

As well as smart, quick, bright, clever, yes, those too.

It's something she's always known about herself, not least because people have been telling her so all her life. (Even when they add the qualifying '...for a woman'.)

It's been her mantra, her heathen prayer, through many a time in her life: she's a smart woman. It's what she always reminds herself whenever she's at risk of falling in love with Phryne.

Of course, intelligent woman that she is, she knew from the first time she met Phryne - only a fool would try to love a woman like that. 

So no, she's never loved Phryne, and just as well, really. Over the years she's lost count of would-be rivals for her affections. (Poor fools.)

But the thing about Phryne that most people never understand? For all the woman goes through lovers like an operating theatre through gauze, Phryne is the most constant person she's ever met. An intelligent woman in a man's profession has to manage very much alone for the most part, and once upon a time Elizabeth had all but forgotten people could be like that.

And she could have loved her - so easily. But she became friends with her instead.

Only a fool would turn down friendship with a woman like Phryne. A good thing, then, that Elizabeth MacMillan is so very, very clever (well, for a woman).

*

Dot is a woman of faith.

This is what she tells herself every time she gets into that motorcar with Miss Fisher, anyway.

Hurtling down the road at speeds unnatural to man, it certainly pays to have a good hold on one's beliefs. (And also on one's breakfast.)

It's funny, Dot used to think Miss Fisher's godlessness was her only flaw, but now, of course, she sees the truth - that Miss Fisher is a woman of faith, too, in her way. 

Miss Fisher believes in herself, in her own mind, her own abilities, and the strength of her conviction would impress even the most devout of Christians. Miss Fisher trusts in herself, and in her friends, and Dot has come to trust in all of that, too. She wouldn't keep getting back in the car, if not.

Because Miss Fisher might not know many psalms, but she knows a thing or two about a lot of other things. And there are different ways to believe, after all. (Just don't tell Father Grogan she said that.)

*

Jane is not a nice girl.

Nice girls don't wish they were anything but. They don't steal, or fight like boys, or swear, or tell lies when they have to, or tell the truth when they shouldn't. They don't always understand that 'nice' is not the same thing as 'good'. And they don't come home with stripes on their palms after losing their patience and calling a teacher stupid, even if the teacher in question was being very stupid indeed. 

"Oh dear, what have those barbarians done to you now?" Miss Fisher says, examining Jane's hand and wincing at the red marks.

"It's not that bad, and at least it was quicker than writing lines," Jane says.

"How dare they brutalise my child. Say the word, and I will bring down the full force of my wrath upon that ghastly institution."

"Don't. I still like it there, mostly - well, except for Miss Hayworth. She said I should show more respect, and that being clever won't take me far enough to make up for a lack of decorum."

"And what do you think?"

"I think she should go and jump in the lake."

"Jane, that is not very nice," Miss Fisher says with a rather approving smile. "Now, let's go see if Mr Butler has anything for those war wounds."

And well, Jane may not have any sense of decorum, and she may not be nice, but she has Miss Fisher, and that means she won't ever have to be.


End file.
